IPBES core glossary

People and organizations who are directly involved in (and dependent on) the implementation of biodiversity related decisions and have their own stakes and interests.

Converting grasslands or shrublands into tree plantations. Afforestation is sometimes suggested as a tool to sequester carbon, but it can have negative impacts on biodiversity and ecosystem function.

One of four phases in the policy cycle. Agenda setting motivates and sets the direction for policy design and implementation.

Schemes that provide funding to farmers and land managers to farm in ways that support biodiversity, enhance the landscape, and improve the quality of water, air and soil (see also agroecology as integral to such schemes).

Collective business activities that are performed from farm to table. It covers agricultural input suppliers, producers, agroprocessors, distributors, traders, exporters, retailers and consumers. Agro- industry refers to the establishment of linkages between enterprises and supply chains for developing, transforming and distributing specific inputs and products in the agriculture sector. Consequently, agro-industries are a subset of the agribusiness sector. Agribusiness and agro-industry both involve commercialization and value addition of agricultural and post-production enterprises, and the building of linkages among agricultural enterprises. The terms agribusiness and agro-industries are often associated with large-scale farming enterprises or enterprises involved in large-scale food production, processing, distribution and quality control of agricultural products.

A primary agricultural product that can be bought and sold.

The process (or trend) of developing a more extensive production system, i.e. one which utilizes large areas of land, but with minimal inputs and expenditures of capital and labour.

A service whereby knowledge about agricultural practices, technologies, tools, and innovations is conveyed to farmers and rural people.

An increase in agricultural production per unit of inputs (which may be labour, land, time, fertilizer, seed, feed or cash).

The process by which land becomes increasingly used for agricultural production. Agricultural intensification can apply to high-input (machinery, fuel, chemicals) farming as well as to lower- input traditional to organic practices.

The process of increasing the use of capital, labor, and inputs (e.g. fertilizers, pesticides, machinery) relative to land area, to increase agriculture productivity.

The Agriculture Orientation Index (AOI) for Government Expenditures is defined as the Agriculture Share of Government Expenditures, divided by the Agriculture Share of Gross Domestic Product (GDP), where Agriculture refers to the agriculture, forestry, fishing and hunting sector.

See Agro ecological zones.

A land-use system in which growing of trees and agriculture crops occur together in same lands.

A land-use system, implying the combination or deliberate association of a woody component (trees or shrubs) with cattle in the same site.

An agrochemical or agrichemical, a contraction of agricultural chemical, is a chemical product used in agriculture. In most cases, agrichemical refers to pesticides including insecticides, herbicides, fungicides and nematicides. It may also include synthetic fertilizers, hormones and other chemical growth agents, and concentrated stores of raw animal manure.

The removal of trees or de-emphasis on the planting and/or protection of trees in the context of existing agroecosystems.

Geographic areas with homogeneous sets of climatic parameters and natural resource characteristics, such as rainfall, solar radiation, soil types and soil qualities, which correspond to a level of agricultural potential.

A human activity system that provides specific services and possesses certain characteristics such as defined biodiversity, a determined ecological succession and food webs and nutrient cycles.

A broad term that includes all components of biological diversity of relevance to food and agriculture, and all components of biological diversity that constitute the agricultural ecosystems, also named agro-ecosystems: the variety and variability of animals, plants and micro-organisms, at the genetic, species and ecosystem levels, which are necessary to sustain key functions of the agro-ecosystem, its structure and processes (CBD COP decision V/5, appendix). Agricultural biodiversity is the outcome of the interactions among genetic resources, the environment and the management systems and practices used by farmers, in some cases over millennia.

Agrobiodiversity or agricultural biodiversity is the biological diversity that sustains key functions, structures and processes of agricultural ecosystems. It includes the variety and variability of animals, plants and micro-organisms, at the genetic, species and ecosystem levels.

Agricultural biodiversity is the biological diversity that sustains key functions, structures and processes of agricultural ecosystems. It includes the variety and variability of animals, plants and micro-organisms, at the genetic, species and ecosystem levels.

The result of natural selection processes and the careful selection and inventive developments of farmers, herders and fishers over millennia. A vital sub-set of biodiversity.

Any substance used to help manage an agricultural ecosystem, or the community of organisms in a farming area. Agrochemicals include: (i) fertilizers; (ii) liming and acidifying agents; (iii) soil conditioners; (iv) pesticides; and (v) chemicals used in animal husbandry, such as antibiotics and hormones.

An approach that aims to regenerate functionally interacting biodiversity leading to sustainable, resilient systems. Methods are knowledge, management and labour- intensive rather than input intensive, and are often rooted in traditional farming practices and/or are co-developed by farmers and scientists working together.

The science and practice of applying ecological concepts, principles and knowledge (i.e. the interactions of, and explanations for, the diversity, abundance and activities of organisms) to the study, design and management of sustainable agroecosystems. It includes the roles of human beings as a central organism in agroecology by way of social and economic processes in farming systems. Agroecology examines the roles and interactions among all relevant biophysical, technical and socioeconomic components of farming systems and their surrounding landscapes.

The science and practice of applying ecological concepts, principles and knowledge (i.e. the interactions of, and explanations for, the diversity, abundance and activities of organisms) to the study, design and management of sustainable agroecosystems. It includes the roles of human beings as a central organism by way of social and economic processes in farming systems. Agroecology examines the roles and interactions among all relevant biophysical, technical and socioeconomic components of farming systems and their surrounding landscapes.

An ecosystem, dominated by agriculture, containing assets and functions such as biodiversity, ecological succession and food webs. An agroecosystem is not restricted to the immediate site of agricultural activity (e.g. the farm), but rather includes the region that is impacted by this activity, usually by changes to the complexity of species assemblages and energy flows, as well as to the net nutrient balance.

Agroforestry is a collective name for land-use systems and technologies where woody perennials (trees, shrubs, palms, bamboos, etc.) are deliberately used on the same land-management units as agricultural crops and animals, in some form of spatial arrangement or temporal sequence.

A collective name for land-use systems and technologies where woody perennials (trees, shrubs, palms, bamboos and so on) are deliberately used on the same land-management units as agricultural crops and/or animals, in some form of spatial arrangement or temporal sequence. Agroforestry can enhance the food supply, income and health of smallholder farmers and other rural people.

A collective name for land-use systems and technologies where woody perennials (trees, shrubs, palms, bamboos, etc.) are deliberately used on the same land- management units as agricultural crops and animals, in some form of spatial arrangement or temporal sequence.

A collective name for land-use systems and technologies where woody perennials (trees, shrubs, palms, bamboos, etc.) are deliberately used on the same land- management units as agricultural crops and/or animals, in some form of spatial arrangement or temporal sequence.

Rural and urban agricultural land use systems in which trees or tree-like perennial and forests are deliberately planted or protected along with agricultural crops and/ or animals and associated wild species.

The 20 targets set by the Conference of the Parties to the Convention for Biological Diversity (CBD) at its tenth meeting, under the Strategic Plan for Biodiversity 2011-2020.

The fraction of solar radiation reflected by a surface or object, often expressed as a percentage.

Alien species that becomes established in natural or semi-natural ecosystems or habitat, are agents of change, and threaten native biological diversity.